The Grass is Greener (On the Other Side)
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Izuku was a bit more sneaky, and Toshinori doesn't see him interfere to give All Might the opening to save Katsuki. Akaguro Chizome on the other hand does. And he thinks this boy might be something worth looking into. That changes things. (And yet- no matter where or when or how, Midoriya Izuku is a force for change.) (Villain Izu AU, Related Oneshots, Parental Stain)
1. Chapter 1

" _If you want a Quirk so much, maybe you should take a leap of faith off the roof, and get one in the next life!"_

Izuku Midoriya had listened to thousands of people tell him he was worthless, helpless, someone who was worse than the lowlifes, lower than low, because he was _Quirkless_.

" _He's pathetic! He still can't face reality!"_

He'd been told thousands of times, in hundreds of ways, that everything he wanted- _to be a hero_ \- was impossible for him due to his lack of power.

" _What can_ _ **you**_ _do? You're_ Quirkless."

He'd shrugged them all off, over and _over_ again, because he wanted to be a hero the way most people wanted to breathe. It was almost involuntary, _needed_ in a way Izuku had never been able to put into words. Not in a way anyone would be able to understand.

And then he met All Might and- _and-_

" _It's not bad to dream, but you also have to consider what is_ _ **realistic**_ _, young man. You should probably_ _ **give it up."**_

-he thought, maybe, he should have been listening all those thousands of times he was told to give up on his dream. That he would never make it. All those times Kacchan had scoffed and called him a ' _useless, shitty nerd'_.

All he really had was his brain.

And he proved that, when he later saved Kacchan from the slime monster. He gave the heroes their opening from the shadows, and slipped away in the chaos. He had no desire to deal with the way he _knew_ he'd be treated by the pros due to his lack of quirk.

In most universes, Yagi Toshinori would then find Midoriya Izuku and offer him a hand and _hope_. Izuku would rise to become a shining example of heroism, a bright pillar, a shining sun for others to follow into a golden age of heroes.

In this universe, that was not the case.

In this universe, another saw what Izuku had done. Another saw a chance, and one who would consider Midoriya Izuku _worthy_ in another universe, would instead reach out to him in his hour of need.

 **LINEBREAK**

Akaguro Chizome _hated_ so called 'heroes' like those he had just seen. 'Heroes' who pretended they were like All Might, heroes who stood around and did nothing because their Quirks failed them. Heroes who waited for others to do the work they were _supposed_ to do.

Heroes….that stood by while a _child_ acted.

Chizome tilted his head, a low considering hum escaping his throat as he tracked the boy who had given All Might his opening. His notebook was sitting on the ground.

Chizome picked it up without anyone seeing, and flipped through it. He paused, backing up and reading rather than scanning the pages. This…

 _This_ was something completely unexpected.

The boy was Quirkless, but a _genius_. This notebook broke down every hero he had gotten ahold of, laid out strengths and weaknesses, plots and notes on how to deal with them if they went rogue, how they could have handled their previous fights better…

This…

Chizome laughed. This boy was a prized blade not yet forged. He had all the makings of someone _great_ laid out here, in this notebook. In the way he revealed his tactical thoughts in the breakdown of fights, and suggestions for how to handle another situation like the previous.

This boy was a _gift._ He had no _need_ of a Quirk.

 _How_ had no one picked up on him yet? Chizome's eyes snapped up and he darted through the crowd, following in the boys footsteps.

He would watch the boy, and perhaps...perhaps he would be a worthy heir to making the world a better place, full of heroes that were _worthy_ of that title.

Time would tell.

 **LINEBREAK**

Chizome frowned darkly from his place perched on the tall powerline poll. The boy was so full of potential and this... _this scum_ was _crushing it_. Teachers were useless and _worthless_ , and the children were being all but encouraged to bully him. None stepped in, not on behalf of this boy- Midoriya Izuku- because he was _quirkless_ and apparently not worthy of the same protections they enforced on behalf of the children with Quirks.

Chizome sneered. He absently sharpened his prized blade, using the repetitive and meditative motion to temper his fury. He'd watched this boy over the last few weeks. He was bright, and alert, and so very _willing_ to learn. But he was overlooked. Pushed around. Looked down on, and it… it made Chizome _angry_. Made he want to pay a visit to these _fools_ that called themselves teachers.

There was a _reason_ he called himself 'Stain.'

If these supposed adults would not act, would let this bright child be crushed without a whisper, would ignore the mother who tried to interfere where she could well- If the system was content to set the mother's complaints aside because her son was _quirkless_ and thus worth less to the system...

Chizome would step in for them both.

 **LINEBREAK**

Inko almost brained the man with a frying pan the first time she saw him.

He had been hovering outside her kitchen window, up in the trees. She just happened to catch a glimpse of movement that _didn't belong_ and she had spotted him shifting along the branches. She would have thrown the frying pan at him- even if she missed, her Quirk would have allowed her to redirect it- but then she spotted her son in his arms.

And to be perfectly honest, Inko wasn't... _exactly_ sure what she did next.

She only knows that she launched herself out the window, into the tree, her entire kitchen collection of knives floating around her head, the frying pan still clenched in her hand, dripping suds of soap onto the ground. She isn't sure she would have _stopped_ beyond the snarled-

" _ **Give me back my son-"**_

-and the insane thought in her head:

 _Organs are small objects, all I need to do is_ _ **pull-**_

-because Inko isn't _stupid_ , her son got his analyzing skills from _her_ and she can see the calluses on the male's hands, the way he held himself, the way he _moved_. And she _knew_ she wouldn't be able to hurt him and keep Izuku safe at the same time, not in a straight fight, so if she had to grab his heart with her Quirk and _rip it out of his chest_ , well what mother wouldn't do anything for their son?

But her son was awake and aware and he lifted his hands and called out, halfway panicking-

"Mom, Wait!"

Inko _paused_. The man is in what she would later learn is civilian wear for him, dark pants and heavy combat boots that lack the spikes of his 'Stain' outfit. She can still see the various knifes and daggers tucked away under the turtleneck- a dark red- that he wears, his black hair pulled back into a messy tail.

She paused, and the knives she had been prepared to _use_ , pause in the air, hovering over her shoulders like a deadly shawl. She looked at the blood red eyes that had stared at her, analyzed her, and she said absolutely nothing, but the man nodded anyway, having heard the unvoiced warning that shone so brightly in her eyes.

It was this moment, this meeting of minds, this change and quirk of fate that would ripple through the verse and change _everything._

 **LINEBREAK**

Izuku applied for UA.

He doesn't aim for the Hero Course. Isn't even sure he'd get in if he tried, not right then, instead he turns his attention to General Studies.

Even if it's not the Hero Course, UA's curriculum is still one of the very best in Japan as a whole, and graduation from this school would open an entire world to him that would otherwise be closed. Especially since he had no Quirk and would be discriminated against _anyway._

 _(And, to be entirely honest...Izuku wasn't sure he_ wanted _to be a hero anymore. Hadn't been since All Might had told him to give up. That Chizome had sat him down and talked about what he knew, what he learned….what he'd_ seen _-_

 _Well. Izuku wasn't sure he wanted to be a hero and have a system like_ that _get in his way. He'd already seen how the system worked with the Quirkless after all. Perhaps he would just….work around it?)_

Chizome had worked with him over the months leading up to the entrance exam, despite how he told Izuku that the world of Heroes had degraded into a place not worthy of the name. He trained Izuku the entire time, worked on his speed, on his mind, on his ability to think under pressure, and trained him on the dos-and-don'ts of fighting hand to hand.

Izuku _thrived_ under his attention.

And he finds himself smiling, laughing in ways he never had before.

Catches his _mother_ laughing and smiling over tea and dinner in a way she hadn't since almost before Izuku can remember. He sees Chizome-san coaching his mother through the motions that would enable her to fight. To keep herself safe, and it _soothes_ Izuku in a way that he can't quite put into words.

Izuku noticed that his mother walked with her spine straight, and her shoulders back, her head up and eyes forward and alert. He noticed as she lost weight, and her entire baring changed just a bit.

She was….happier. More confident. Showing her skills and brain off. Working with her quirk. And even beyond the way it makes Izuku happy to know his mother can defend herself….for just this, for _this_ , for watching his mother bloom and smile, watching as her confidence is built up…

Well…

Izuku would give Chizome almost anything if he asked it of him, and he thinks Chizome knows it. Is sure he does. And still the man doesn't ask of him anything he would not already give.

Izuku thinks he might love the man the way a boy loves a father, just a little.


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to try a new way of updating- using shorter blurbs and glimpses into the AU over long oneshot style things. We'll see how that goes. XD**

 **LINEBREAK**

General Studies was amazing. It was _challenging_. The course adapted to his mind, the teachers were willing to work with him, and Izuku was having a good time.

He woke up every morning and Chizome helped to put him through his paces, he got to go to school where he had _friends_ , and was thriving.

Which- yeah, he didn't have _many_ friends, but it was still more than he was used to. Shinsou was amazing.

It was also a shock to learn the school had kept his Quirkless status under wraps. The media hadn't gotten a hold of it, none of his classmates knew he didn't have a quirk, and the teachers who _did_ know were treating him fairly. His classmates were under the impression his deduction skills were his quirk.

Izuku had learned from his last experience. If his classmates wanted to think he had a quirk, he'd let them. He never confirmed or denied that it was true after all. He just put his all into his course work. He wanted into the Hero Course.

Did he believe in Heroes?

Not...not the way he had. Not the way he used to. But having a hero license would allow him access to support items, allow him to create a base of operations for others and himself. It would allow him to _fight back_ legally. Would give him a way to fight the system from inside.

Once he had explained his views to Shinsou, the purple haired boy had sworn to help. He'd lived the system after all- knew what 'villainous quirks' and those who had them were treated like. That he would be able to become a hero and help those like him, help _true_ heroes shine in the system, help to rework it from the inside beside Midoriya?

Shinsou didn't hesitate.

They would change the world, and do it together.

It helped that Chizome and his Mom were willing to help him _be_ that change.

Sure, he was walking a fine line, being introduced to Chizome's contacts, and building his own, but...it would be worth it.

It would _all_ be worth it, if he could change the world the way he was planning. If he could give those like him, and like Shinsou- those called 'useless' and 'villains in the making' for their lack of quirks or the inclination society believed a quirk _had_ ….

He was _so tired_ of... _all of it_. How stagnant and _still_ the world seemed to be in regards to quirks.

The way the world preached Heroes and Villains, how they limited how and when and _who_ could use their quirks...how they _viewed_ quirks in regards to _people_.

What was the _point?_

Somebody with a quirk was _going to have that quirk_ the rest of their lives. Outlawing the use of them was like...like outlawing _black hair_. It wasn't going to change that people were _born_ with black hair.

The laws should have been updated _decades ago_ , when they realized that quirks weren't just a random thing, but a spreading evolution of humans. _Eighty percent_ of the world's population had these extra abilities. Why didn't the laws reflect that?

It wasn't that Izuku _didn't_ want laws in place to prevent _abusing_ a quirk, but just- kids should be getting classes on using their quirks, what was okay and not okay to do with them, should be able to play and enjoy them, It wasn't something that should be hidden away.

More than that though, Izuku wanted- _needed_ \- the laws to change in regards to Quirk Discrimination and the Quirkless.

He'd lived with that bias, and the harm it could cause for _years_ , and having met Shinsou-kun? He'd been witnessing the negative half of the discrimination up close. Kacchan had been the opposite problem, showing what favoring a quirk over others could- would- do to the mind of a child.

If he had to cause enough of a stir- by becoming famous, or planting the ideas into the up and coming heroes to have that happen then he _would_.

If he had to follow Stain and his mother into the Underworld and reach out to those like them, build a safe place and network of those like them? He _would_.

Most of the Quirkless were discriminated against or pushed so hard they ended up in the Underworld. Those that escaped that fate were lucky and few in number compared to the rest. Those with 'villain' quirks faced the same problems.

Most often they banded together in the bad parts of town.

Izuku was willing and able to get to them, accepted among them with Shinsou, because he- _they_ were like them. That he had succeeded in getting into UA, Japan's largest most influential high school?

Well Izuku wasn't the _only_ one that wanted to see change in the world. Those who shared his line of thinking, those who saw what he did, they would surely support him.


End file.
